Monthly Archives: October 2019

Select Fire Beretta Pistols Part 2

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Select Fire Beretta Pistols Part 2

The same but different

By Dennis Adler

Crosman has picked up the gauntlet dropped by Gletcher with the new Full Auto P1. However, as you can tell from this photo (regardless of perspective) the Crosman is a larger gun than the Umarex Beretta, which is proportioned exactly like its centerfire counterpart. It is a small difference in size and the weight of the guns is close, with the Umarex weighing 2 pounds, 7 ounces, and the Crosman 2 pounds, 8 ounces. Unable to bear the Beretta name, which is licensed to Umarex, there is no patent on the design, which is used by other CO2 and centerfire pistol manufacturers like Swiss Arms and Taurus (with the PT-92).

The vast majority of blowback action CO2 models work about the same way with the main difference being whether the guns have a fixed barrel, like small to medium caliber blowback action centerfire pistols, the Walther PPK being a good example, or a version of the John Browning-designed, short-recoil, locked-breech, tilting barrel design used in most medium to large caliber centerfire pistols. The Beretta 92 Series is one of the few exceptions because of several distinctive Beretta designs, first the open slide with most of the barrel exposed, secondly, the 92 Series (and some of its earlier Beretta predecessors) do not have a feed ramp between the magazine and chamber, and third, the guns use a falling locking block design with the barrel traveling in-line during recoil, rather than tilting down, like the Browning design. This also makes the Beretta one of the easiest handguns to fieldstrip, and all three of the CO2 models take down exactly the same way as the 9mm pistol. read more

Select Fire Beretta Pistols Part 1

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Select-Fire Beretta Pistols Part 1

It’s hard to keep a great idea down,

even when the original is long discontinued

By Dennis Adler

The new Crosman Full Auto P1 comes in a larger package because it has a little something extra in the box, which we will get to later. If you have one of the original Umarex Beretta 92A1 models it also had a larger box and came with a spare magazine. The new smaller box, pictured, only has the gun and extra mags cost. The new M9A3 also comes solo but is a much better looking and slightly unique gun compared to the 92A1. The Crosman resurrects an older design used on a Gletcher model, but all three share one thing, a select-fire mechanism.

There are a handful of semiautomatic pistols that collector’s truly covet, and not just for their significant designs or contributions to military, law enforcement, and civilian arms history, but for creating a legacy that continues for years, decades, and sometimes even a century or more after they have been discontinued. An even smaller number of those semi-autos were equipped with a select-fire switch, that, with the movement of a lever, allowed the pistol to fire on full automatic or in short bursts. Today that pistol would be the Glock 18, only sold to the military and law enforcement and not for civilian ownership. It’s most famous appearance on the big screen was the 2012 James Bond film Skyfall, but the select-fire G18 has been in more than 20 other movies and television shows, so it is no stranger to modern day gun enthusiasts. read more

The 10/22 Air Rifle Kit Part 3

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The 10/22 Air Rifle Kit Part 3

Pushing it to 25 yards

By Dennis Adler

Normally, 25 yards is not a great distance for high-power air rifles, but for one that is running on a pair of 12 gr. CO2 cartridges it could be a push. Not that a pellet can’t travel that far, it certainly can and much further, but not accurately. What we are after here is proof that the Umarex Ruger 10/22 with its paired CO2 cartridges and the power of precision targeting with the Mantis 3-9×32 AO Mil-Dot scope can send a pellet 25 yards downrange and hit the target with consistent accuracy. With a scoped .22 LR Ruger 10/22 this would be a given, but with a CO2 version it is not. read more

The 10/22 Air Rifle Kit Part 2

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The 10/22 Air Rifle Kit Part 2

Scoped and ready for the 10-meter range

By Dennis Adler

I shot the 10 meter indoor test off a benchrest. With the Mantis scope I was expecting very right groups and had the 10/22 settled into these very affordable Millett Benchmaster rests, which are great for .22s and air rifles like the Ruger 10/22.

Pellet rifles fall into a number of categories from Olympic competition to small game hunting and just plain old plinking and target shooting. The best pellet rifles are usually expensive (or comparatively expensive) precharged pneumatics (PCP), premium underlever spring air rifles, like the RWS Diana 460 Magnum, spring piston break barrels, like the Beeman R7 Elite Series, while at the lower end of the price spectrum are CO2 powered air rifles using an 88 gr. CO2 cartridge or dual 12 gr. CO2 cartridges. The Ruger 10/22 falls into the last category and with its sealed air chamber in the buttstock has enough power to send 4.5mm pellets downrange at velocities capable of being effective for small varmint hunting and practical target shooting, both of which are greatly enhanced with the use of a variable power scope like the Mantis. Pyramyd Air has picked a good match for the Ruger 10/22 in the Rifle Kit. read more

The 10/22 Air Rifle Kit Part 1

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The 10/22 Air Rifle Kit Part 1

Scoped and ready for the 10-meter range

By Dennis Adler

Sometimes there are real advantages to buying a kit when it has everything you need to upgrade an air rifle, including the air rifle itself. Since Umarex didn’t introduce the Ruger 10/22 with accessories, or even include a rail to mount a scope (like Ruger does with the 10/22 rimfire model), Pyramyd Air put the package together using a UTG low profile rail mount, UTG Accushot 1-inch scope rings with large easy to use hex thumb nuts, and a well made Mantis 3-9×32 AO Mil-Dot Scope.

One of the things I regret about the time I had a Ruger 10/22, back in the late 1960s, was not fitting it with a scope. Never being much of rifleman, (I have a few but they are western lever actions), and rather more of a shotgun and handgun guy, I’ve never had too many opportunities to shoot rifles with optics, except for a handful of modern guns I have tested for gun magazines over the years. To quote Quigley Down Under, only reversing Quigley’s use of a rifle, instead of a revolver, “I said I never had much use for one. Never said I didn’t know how to use it.” So with that in mind, I am going to make up for my misgivings from years past and run a test with the new Pyramyd Air 10/22 Air Rifle Kit and see what the Ruger can do with a proper scope. Granted, I have to settle for shooting 4.5mm lead pellets at around 650 fps, rather than my old 10/22 with .22 LR rounds traveling down range at a much greater, and louder velocity, but from my perspective writing about airguns, this is a brand new experience. I could have had a 10/22 with a scope anytime in the last 50 years, but never a pellet model! read more

Umarex G19X vs. Sig Sauer M17 Part 3

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Umarex G19X vs. Sig Sauer M17 Part 3

BBs vs. pellets at comparable velocities!

By Dennis Adler

Size doesn’t matter when it comes to performance comparisons between the Sig Sauer M17 ASP pellet model and Umarex Glock G19X BB pistol. The Compact G19X can hold its own against Sig’s rifled barrel CO2 version of the U.S. Army’s standard issue sidearm. We’re in for a unique comparison of BBs vs. Pellets.

This is something you don’t expect in a blowback action CO2 BB pistol, velocities that are comparable to a CO2 pellet pistol. Of course, neither of these are your run of the mill BB or pellet pistols, the Sig M17 ASP is the only blowback action air pistol with a self-contained CO2 pellet magazine and the Glock 19X is one of only two blowback action BB pistols with self-contained CO2 BB magazines that consistently send .177 caliber steel BBs downrange at well over 350 fps. This makes the Glock 19X (and Third Gen Glock 17) capable of shooting at the same distances and with comparable accuracy to a pellet firing semi-auto pistol. The operative word here is “capable.” But is the Glock actually going to rival the M17 ASP? read more

Umarex G19X vs. Sig Sauer M17 Part 2

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Umarex G19X vs. Sig Sauer M17 Part 2

Recapping the Sig Sauer M17 ASP

By Dennis Adler

One of the key elements of the M17 ASP is accurate size. Some air pistols come very close, others are dead on, and this is one of them. The CO2 model fit two popular P320/M17 rigs from Galco, the S3H shoulder holster, and a TAC Slide belt holster, a combination of leather for the belt slide with an injection molded holster form fit for the P320. If the CO2 version was going to be a problem with any holster, this would be the rig. It fit like it was a centerfire model.

Last year, this was the blowback action air pistol that got all the top nods for its innovative design and use of the first ever self-contained CO2 pellet magazine. As Replica Air Pistol of the Year, the Sig Sauer M17 ASP was almost a given, even though it still had some non-functional features and a slide that cannot be locked open. The self-contained CO2 pellet magazine gave the Sig a lot of leverage against the competition which were all blowback action BB models. With its few minor failings the M17 remained an impressive pistol throughout all of the various tests it was subjected to in 2018. read more